Wrex: "Come on keep sending them up! I'll keep cutting them down!" Wrex shouted down the stairs he was stood at earlier, he could hear incoherent shouting from outside, it didn't take long for the other teams of insurrectionists to arrive and pile in and around the building he was in, and he had indeed killed three more unsuspecting souls who had dared ventured up the stairs. But there were definitely more than the three teams that were summoned earlier though, too many voices... But then it fell silent, Wrex straining to listen for any sort of clue as to what they were doing.

*BAM BAM BAM* three shots hit the front of the building, the wall to his left, covering his face from debris, and it fell silent again...

Wrex: "HA! You missed!"

*BAM BAM BAM BAM*

Wrex coughed on the dust now floating around the room, but then the floor creaked, then gave way underneath him and fell one story down. Coughing some more and pulling himself from the rubble.

Wrex: "Yep... Maybe wasn't such and good idea..." He said aloud to him self. He limped off through the building, he made it into the next room but instantly regretted the decision as he looked up.

Four insurrectionists, standing in a line, all had similar weapons to the one he saw earlier trained on him.

Wrex: "Oh crap..." He muttered, they stood there still...

Innie: "On the ground now, hands on your head!" One of them shouted.

Wrex: "Guys, look, you really want to think about this..." Wrex said, desperately trying to figure a way out of this predicament. Then there was a black blur from the only other door in the room, that slid behind where they were standing from right to left and they fell like dominos... Skylen rose up through the dust he had kicked up, sliding his tail blades away as he stood. "...Told you..." Wrex said to the motionless bodies on the ground "...what are you doing here anyway? Don't you have a job to do?" Turning to Skylen.

Skylen held his arms up in a huff, looking toward the doorway that he originated from,

Skylen: "See! Told you!" He shouted, Eishin, Clayne and Star Light came through the door way. Star Light: "You know he doesn't mean it and is actually glad to see us..." she said, smile disappearing as she laid eyes on Wrex "...for the sake of the gods, why have you not sorted your face out yet?" Wrex raised his eyebrows in shock,

Wrex: "Well, good to see you too, but you know this is my face, not a lot I can do with it I'm afraid..." She stepped over to him bent down to his height, grabbed his snout and pulled on something in his right cheek. "...Arghh!..." Wrex exclaimed as she yanked hard, revealing a piece of metal shrapnel the size of her palm to his eyes in her fingers. "...Ouch... When did that get there?" He said, massaging his cheek.

Star Light: "That's been there since our cockpit door exploded."

Wrex: "Aahhh... Thanks..." he said and out of the blue she hugged him tight around the neck, Star Light: "We thought, we lost you".

He returned a one arm hug back,

Star Light: "Well, thanks to you all, you didn't." he said and they both released and he limped, still on all fours into the room more to get ready to talk.

Star Light: "Oh what else have you done?" She demanded, half playfully, half serious.

Wrex: "You try getting thrown from a ship, not fun, I can assure you..." he said back to her before looking back at the remaining three, he was about to speak to them all when he saw Eishin's partial missing lip and nostril... "...You ok?..." Eishin nodded back in return, "...good man..." Wrex removed his gauntlet and handed it to Eishin "...Could you take a look at that for me please, I can't get anybody on it..." Eishin set to work straight away, opening access panels to look at the electronics in side, "...any of you heard from any of the other Strikes?" They all looked glum,

Skylen: "Most teams have made it down, but Hell were witnessed... they never made land fall... Noble found Inferno, all KIA, they never made it to the AA gun so Noble took it upon themselves to carry out their objective and on their way there. And we still have yet to hear from Pyro, Guardian and Storm... there are also reports of team members sustaining injuries... Wrex... this wasn't a simple smash and grab mission, this was a slaughter, we had no intel on..." He leant down and picked up one of the innie's make shift weapons "...these! The AA guns! That's all we knew, we were never warned of any hand held weapons!" Wrex held up a hand, shaking his head.

Wrex: "I know, I know!..." he dragged a weapon closer to himself to get a better look. "...I'm surprised they're smart enough to be able to put these together".

They were certainly an odd design, Wrex recognised a lot of miniaturised components that are used in Vanguard ship guns, but these were cobbled together in a hurry, cumbersome to hold and had a lot of safeties bypassed from the looks.

Skylen: "They're a disaster waiting to happen." Skylen said still looking over the one he held.

Clayne: "We should use them."

Wrex: "No" he instantly remarked, Skylen looked up,

Skylen: "Why not?! Wrex! we are being murdered out here by these!" Skylen said, backing up Clayne.

Star Light: "It would give us the edge we need." She said quietly, stepping up beside him.

Wrex: "Not you too..." he replied unimpressed, turning to her "...firing weapons are prohibited and illegal!"

Skylen: "...And here we are holding them Wrex! the Queen and her Council aren't the ones out here, we are" He retorted. Wrex shook his head... they were right, he just didn't want to admit it... but he had little choice. He used Star Light as support as he stood up, picking up the weapon with his free hand, a grunt of pain escaped him as he put weight on his leg. He handed the weapon to Star Light and turned to hobble through the door way where he came from initially.

Star Light: "Where are you going?" Wrex didn't turn when he answered as he hobbled away. Wrex: "There's four guns there, one of the bastards that attacked me earlier had one, enough for one each then... then, we get Reikon..."

__________

They spent the next hour ducking and diving through buildings and alley way, only being slowed by Wrex and his limp, much to his own annoyance. They had encountered small numbers of civilians on their route, people too scared to leave their homes... Fury let them be, but told them to stay in hiding, due to this though, they agreed amongst themselves that the weapons would only be used when necessary to avoid any civilian casualties. They also found some insurrectionists en-route to the target area... Fury wasn't so nice to them and dispatched them accordingly each time and used the weapons on larger groups in open areas. Finally they heard on their com channel from their fellow Strike Teams some good news... Noble, Animal and Defiant had all managed to take out their designated AA guns and were now holding defensive positions... even better still... Reikon had been spotted by Majestic, Wrex gave the order for Fury to hold position in the fairly well sheltered alley they were in

Zion: "...she's alive and well it seems, being escorted by armed guard into a large building of some kind..." Captain Zion of Majestic reported.

Skylen: "Give us the coordinates!" Skylen snapped, before Wrex could reply to Majestic, raising an eyebrow at Skylen. Majestic gave them the coordinates as requested, Wrex gave an order for all remaining teams, not in defensive positions on the guns to form a five block radius of said coordinates and to keep eyes out for any escapees.

No sooner had Wrex given the order Skylen pushed passed Wrex and took walked at a fast pace.

Wrex: "Skylen, stick together." Wrex barked, Skylen stopped and turned back to Wrex,

Skylen: "You wanted to play this mission like you did, we have, they wanted us to save your ass, we did, you've slowed us up all the way to getting her back, now I'm getting the job done... and I am going to kill every single one of them for what they've to her and to our fellow Strikes." he said, pulling the gun up to a more ready position, turned and resumed his fast walk.

Wrex: "Shit..." full knowing he wasn't going to get through to him this time, gesturing Fury to follow he tried to keep up pace as best he could with his bad leg. They were only seven blocks away from where she was spotted and the building she was lead to, so it didn't take them long to reach there.

One street away from the fancy looking building they came to the end of another alley, Skylen stood at the end peering out over the street. Skylen took note of their arrival,

Skylen: "Building located, Armed guards, and lot's of them... must be the place." he said in as much of a hushed tone that his deep voice could muster. Wrex tapped him and gestured for him to move aside for him to peek and they swapped places... He wasn't wrong, even out the front, he counted a dozen men, and two more on the roof top... He leaned back into cover and turned to Skylen,

Wrex: "Well... what's your plan hotshot?" Skylen held his weapon up,

Skylen: "Arms at the ready, we're going in..."

Wrex: "That's your plan?? Are you serious??" he hissed back. Skylen readied his weapon and Skylen: "You got a better idea?" but before Wrex could reply or Skylen could step out, a small stone bounced off the top of Skylen's helmet. Confused, they all looked up and on the edge of the roof all they could see was a black gauntleted hand beckoning up them up.

Clayne: "Could be trap?" he whispered.

Wrex: "Yeah, double back around the back of the building." Wrex whispered, they followed around to the back.

Star Light: "Wait here, I'll go." Star Light said to them, she opened her wings and flew straight up four stories, almost instantly, and grabbed the edge of the building, keeping out of sight but hoisted herself up to peek. Peering over the wall she smiled at the sight that greeted her, she pulled herself up the rest of the way, keeping low and beckoned the others to join her. One by one they flew up and landed on the roof in the same way. Wrex was greeted by the sight of three members of Strike Team Majestic, huddled low against the opposite wall surrounding this buildings flat roof, Fury hastily made their way over to them.

They greeted each other with curt nods and smiles.

Wrex: "What's the word then guys? Where's the rest of Majestic?" he asked them hushed.

Zion: "Roof top. On the building to the other side of our target, keeping an eye on the back door in case anyone tries that way, it's just as heavily guarded all round as the front, all have these same weapons you're carrying... which by the way, brave of you using..." The captain replied.

Wrex: "Yeah, well they talked me into it, not exactly a fair fight eh" Wrex replied jokingly.

Skylen: "Can we get on with it please?!" he snapped, Wrex rolled his eyes, actually starting to get annoyed with his attitude now but ignored him.

Wrex: "Suggestions on best course of action then Zion?"

Zion: "Well you also have four lookouts on the roof tops, but they haven't spotted us yet, street's too guarded, I say, Majestic will take out the lookouts while Fury sneak in the roof top access for the building." Wrex had a peek over the roof wall and ducked back down...

Wrex: "Sounds good, but a whole team in the building won't be a good idea, too many to get spotted... Skylen comes with me, Star Light, Eishin, Clayne, assist with Majestic out here, make sure no one gets away."

And with that Fury and Majestic split up into pairs, it took a few minutes to organise and get everyone into position without being spotted. Once in position, the four look outs went down simultaneously, quickly, quietly and without issue and they all spread out to cover any escape routes. Wrex and Skylen were given the all clear, all they had to do was watch out as they leapt over the alley from their adjacent building so as to not get spotted from the guards below. They jumped in turn, Skylen first, followed by Wrex, who landed on his leg badly and caused him to limp heavy again, Skylen seeing him doing this whispered back to him.

Skylen: "I think I should go in alone".

Wrex: "Don't be stupid you'll never make it..." he whispered back in annoyance. Skylen shook his head and they headed to the roof top entrance together.

Skylen opened the door slowly, and peered through the gap, no one to be seen... But there was what sounded like a muffled crowd inside, but couldn't be seen down the stair case that descended below, Skylen made his way down, Wrex tagging behind, they rounded a corner in the stairway, the crowd getting louder and an additional, loud female voice could be heard. They reached the bottom of the stairs, barely keeping out of sight of a passing armed guard, Skylen snatched the guard, pulling him onto the stairs and Wrex quickly snapped his neck before he could make a sound and gently placed the limp body on the stairs.

They checked the coast was clear before moving over to the decorative wall that formed the railing of the top floor viewing area they were on and each peered through one of the artistic holes in the wall. They were in a theatre... there was a large rowdy crowd below in the main gallery.

Wrex: "At least we get good seats." Wrex mocked,

Skylen: "Shut up." He snapped back, Wrex made an inward sigh and repositioned to get a better view of the stage, the female present, giving a speech, Wrex knew who she was instantly Wrex: "Ai-saleen..."

Skylen shifted to get a better look as well,

Skylen: "The Insurrectionist leader?" He asked.

Wrex: "Well, not 'Thee' leader, but certainly one of top."

Skylen: "You see Reikon?" Skylen asked eagerly, still looking around keenly.

Wrex: "Not yet no..." Wrex fell silent, trying to catch what Ai-saleen was preaching.

Ai-saleen: "...So! Dear people of Mu, with the Vanguard raining down upon us, destroying what is Ours, forcing their law and jurisdiction upon us... these may seem like dark days indeed... But those dark days will soon be behind us, soon a new ruler to the will take their place on the throne, one who will not just listen to what the people say but to act on it and give us what we desire!... That one is kind enough to joins us today..." The crowd hushed in anticipation and Skylen shifted uneasily. "...I give you, soon to be, Queen Reikon!..." The crowd erupted into applause and cheering, Ai-saleen bowed out to one side of the stage, gesturing presenting arms as another Dragoness walked on stage... no escort or armed guard, no restraints and seemingly completely on her own free will... Reikon strolled up he centre of the stage, arms raised triumphantly, soaking up the crowd's heightened applause.

Skylen and Wrex snapped to looking at each other wide eyed, with Wrex mouthing the words 'What... The fuck?!' Skylen's jaw was dropped, he shook his head having no Idea what was going on. Wrex quickly turned his gauntlet on to record sound.

Reikon: "My dear, kind, loyal people... You may have heard my messages before about how even I am tired of my mother's slow reactions, or worse, complete lack of... don't get me wrong, I do not wish ill of her of her at all, quite on the contrary in actual fact... But her time as ruler is up... I can't have you sit here and wait and be ignored, with preferential treatment for Axis Mundis, that's just not right, that's just not fair... things need to get done, when there's an issue it needs to get resolved, not have a city hall debate about it. And my so called sister, will be no better let me assure you, it's a shame that our colleagues were unsuccessful in he capture or... Well, the other, preferred and even better option..." There was a few scattered sniggers and chuckles from the otherwise silent crowd... "...so hear the words from my mouth... When I am queen I promise you, and all the other worldly clans, things will change for the better, I will make things right!..." There was a loud cheer and applause again.

Skylen: "Oh shit..." He stated, sounding disappointed as he looked over Wrex's head,

Innie: "Stand up 'Vanguard'! throw the weapons towards the stairs!" the voice from behind Wrex said, Wrex's shoulders dropped in disappointment from letting himself get caught and both he and Skylen threw the guns towards the stairs they came down earlier as demanded...

Wrex: "I actually can't stand, see I got a bad leg and..."

Innie: "I said get up!" The Innie shouted again, nudging Wrex in the back, Wrex and Skylen both raised their hands and slowly stood, Wrex looking over his shoulder, seeing the same sort of weapon he had seen all day...

Wrex: "Hey Skylen, this guy is almost as stupid as you, threatening me at point blank range with that thing! if he shot me he'd vaporise all three of us!"

Skylen: "Come on Wrex, I'm not that stupid"

Wrex: "Could have fooled me, that swing you made at me earlier was pathetic as well, too bad I was too quick for you." Wrex winked at Skylen

Innie: "Shut up!" he demanded, trying to assert authority over the pair.

Skylen: "You?, quick? we all know I'm quicker than you lot, I always have been! I could smack you in the face right now and you wouldn't even see me flinch!" Skylen retorted back, getting what Wrex was suggesting, stepping closer to his face, too close to be able to punch Wrex.

Innie: "I said shut up! Both you!"

Wrex: "Yeah?!" He taunted, completely ignoring the Innie.

Skylen: "Yeah!" Skylen signaled back, readying himself.

Wrex Ducked as Skylen gave a right hook and caught the Innie square in the end of his snout then spun and smacked the stunned Innie in the ribs with his tail, sending him toppling over the railing, there were shouts and screams from the crowd below as the Innie landed on them. They both looked over the railing, most eyes below laid on the duo, and with their cover blown Skylen shouted called down to the stage,

Skylen: "REIKON!". She gasped, realising she knew them and a 'Jump' opened behind her...

Wrex: "No no no NO NO!" and they both leapt the railing to chase but it was no use, she stepped back through the portal and vanished before their feet ever touched the ground. Meaning they had just landed in a middle of a group of Insurrectionists and supporters of them, a few ran and left the room, supporters of the movement but obviously didn't want to end up in a fight. Wrex and Skylen stood back to back completely encircled. Ai-saleen made her way through the crowd to the front to the pair.

Ai_saleen: "Well well,..." she started, smiling menacingly at them and started circling the pair, skirting the dragon made wall around them"...who do we have here?..." she walked in front of Wrex, "...Hmmm... a Vice Admiral... well there's only ever been one Vanguard to insist on staying on the front lines after surpassing 'Captain'... Your reputation precedes you, Vice Admiral Wrex, I'm honoured!"

Wrex: "The honour is all mine..." Wrex said back with a mocking smile and tone, "...Captain Ai-saleen, or rather Ex- Captain... you had quite a rep yourself before you were honourably discharged for being diagnosed clinically insane"

Ai-saleen: "I quit! The Vanguard never saw the truth, neither did the Queen! I was born in this very city! Now look at it! Degraded and left to rot! Now thanks to your Vanguard, it'd scared with war as well!..." She carried on around to Skylen's side, "...and a hard hitting companion and brother who always seems to be chained to your side,... can only be Captain Skylen! Also and Honour!" she said enthusiastically.

Skylen: "You will find I don't share my brother's mutual respect bantha shit." He snarled back at her, her smile quickly faded,

Ai-saleen: "Such a pleasure..." she spat before completing a full circle and ending back where she started and to one side of them both. "...You two have caused quite a bit of trouble today, ruining this remarkable city, killing many of our friends..." She gestured to the crowd around them, who some of which which replied with growls and snarls. "...BUT... we are willing to put all of that behind us, and you can walk out of here alive, IF you renounce you allegiance to the Vanguard and the current occupier to the throne and work with us." returning to her smile.

Wrex turned to look over his shoulder at Skylen,

Wrex: "Told she was insane..." Skylen agreed in a form of a huff.

Ai-saleen: "Oh come on now boys... Wrex, you're the stuff of legends!, and Skylen, you can certainly hold your own in a fight, plus Reikon has told me oh so much about you, I know you agree with our ideals, you both could be high ranking and highly respectable individuals under the new order!, Just think about it!"

Skylen: "Ai-saleen, yes agree with your ideals... but not the way you go about getting them... I think I speak for both of us here when I say, Fuck You." Skylen spat. Ai-saleen's face dropped to one of disgust.

Ai-saleen: "Such a waste... Very well then, have it your way..." she turned to leave "...kill them." she said parting the crowd.

And like that the whole crowd rushed them, the duo extended tail blades and spun clockwise, slicing down the first line but it wasn't long before they were over whelmed. They were soon split up, then punched, kicked, claws scratching faces, tail blades scrapping over their almost stab proof armour... but they never relented, they stabbed, sliced, bit clawed, snapped limbs and necks in return, eventually making their way through the crowd enough that the few dozen remaining innies and supporters realising they were doomed and made a run for it out of the exits, the few that remained fell quick, the last one being flipped up, slammed to the floor by Skylen, receiving a tail blade through his screaming mouth and through the back of his head. Wrex partially fell over from fatigue and Skylen struggled to pull his tail blade from the floor and almost fell himself when it released itself, they struggled, wobbled and panted, stumbling over the shear amount of bodies on the floor towards each other. They finally met in the middle, still gasping for air, Wrex placing his hand on his brother's shoulder, they looked at each other's faces, both of them were cut up pretty bad, blood pouring from every wound, Wrex even having a serious nose bleed, it was a miracle that neither of them lost an eye during that scuffle...

Wrex: "You ok?" Wrex managed to gasp out, Skylen placed his hand on his side on one of the few exposed areas of the body, not covered in armour, hissed in pain and pulled his hand away revealing a bloody glove.

Skylen: "Just a nick... I think I'll live..." he panted.

Wrex: "Good..." nodding and still panting, "...good, *pant* Then what *pant* what the fuck *pant* was that about?!" Wrex demanded, pointing at the stage in remark to Reikon's earlier involvement. Skylen with out even needing to look where he was pointing, knowing what he was referring to shook his head.

Skylen: "I have *pant* No idea *pant* she... she's been disa- *pant* disappearing *pant* every now and then *pant* I thought... she told me she was doing royalty things *pant* and learning what she could from the queen, *pant* I guess she was actually doing this sort of thing under the radar... Are you going to tell the Council and the Queen?" He finished, looking worried.

Wrex: "I don't know Skylen... I'm duty bound..." Wrex replied

Skylen: "She's my partner, and a princess! You can't-"

Wrex: " 'Can't' what?!! Skylen!, What she's doing is wrong! You know I would help you if I could but WE can't let her do this!" Wrex snapped back, hand on his head trying to desperately get things straight in his own mind.

Skylen: "Let me talk to her... give me a chance, please Wrex." Wrex paused, his communicator started vibrating... Captain Zion, he ignored it though for the moment, thinking through the best plan in his head...

Wrex: "One chance, brother, after that I... if word of this gets out, which I'm warning you now, it more than likely will, I can't promise anything, I'm not risking my life and career for her stupid ego, you got that?!..." Skylen nodded, and Wrex answered Captain Zion "...Wrex here."

"Good to hear you're still alive, Majestic and the rest of Fury have mopped up most of your overflow that you managed to scare off, we saw Ai-saleen, she managed to escape unfortunately with a handful of supporters... good news though, what ever you did in there must have allowed Reikon to escape, she was found wandering the back alleyways a couple of blocks from here. She Insisted that you told her to run to safety and to not trust any of the Vanguard though, what does she mean?"

Wrex: "No no, don't listen to her Zion..." Wrex looked up at Skylen who had a pleading look on his face, "...Hand her over to Fury, then clear and mop up the area yeah?"

Zion: "Err, sure thing Wrex." Wrex ended the coms then opened one up to his team only.

Wrex: "Fury, come in Fury"

Star Light: "Star Light here, good to hea-" Wrex cut her off, not intending to be rude but this was important.

Wrex: "Star Light, Majestic have Reikon and are handing over to your care, DO NOT LET HER OUT OF YOUR SIGHT!, as soon as Majestic are out of sight restrain her!"

Wrex: "Sir?" she asked sounding confused. Skylen took a step closer to Wrex,

Skylen: "BUT YOU SAID-?!"

Wrex: "SHUT UP!..." Wrex barked back, Skylen looked scornfully at him but remained quiet. Wrex: "...That is my order, is that understood Fury?"

Star Light: "Yes sir." She replied, now no hesitation in her voice and he closed the coms.

Skylen: "Wrex... Brother... YOU SAID..."

Wrex: "I said I will give you one chance! I'm giving you it but I'm not taking a chance myself, this stay's amongst Fury I'll make sure of it until I say otherwise, is that understood?!" Skylen showed his teeth in a silent growl, but nodded anyway.

__________

Wrex and Skylen made it out to the alleyway, finding Clayne to meet them and lead them to Eishin, Star Light and the now secured Reikon.

Clayne: "Wrex, sir, we've... bloody hell... are you two ok? What happened?" only just noting their ravaged appearances.

Wrex: "Later, where are they?" Wrex said shortly.

Clayne: "Erm... this way." he said, leading them two streets away to a deserted house and gestured them in the back door and they piled in. No sooner had they passed the threshold they could hear Reikon's protests.

Reikon: "...I thought we were friends?! Why are you doing this?! Do you know this is treason?! You're with the insurrectionists aren't you?! What would Wrex say?!"

Wrex: "Oh I have plenty of things to say to you, Princess!" Wrex said as he entered the room, seeing Reikon tied up in the centre, laying belly down, head on the floor, making her gasp in surprise as he spoke.

Reikon: "Wrex!, Skylen, My love, can get them to release me?"

Wrex: "Don't touch her." He shot back at Skylen, which to be fair, he wasn't going to, he merely rounded the room and leant up against the wall, crossed his arms skulkingly like he had done earlier that day on the Shadowing Intent. Star Light looked up from Reikon to Skylen and Wrex Star Light: "What the fuck happened to you two?!"

Wrex: "I will explain shortly, Fury, pile in, close the door and listen up." Once they were all in and door closed, he played the recording of Reikon's speech she made earlier... by the end of the recording the other three members of Fury all wearing a look of shock on their faces.

Wrex: "We were attacked, as soon as the Princess here spotted us she Jumped out, leaving Ai-saleen to set the entire room of insurrectionists on us... barely made it out alive." Reikon merely laid still on the floor, staring into space, showing no emotion.

Eishin: "So... What do we do?"

Wrex: "WE... leave the room... Skylen gets his one chance... after that I don't know." Wrex replied, getting up from the table he had claimed and sat on, then gestured all the the others to leave, they all filed out and Wrex closed the door behind him, leaving only Skylen and Reikon left in the now silent room.

The silence carried on for good 30 seconds before Reikon turned her head towards Skylen. Reikon: "Are you going to say anything?" he raised his head slightly from the spot on the floor he was staring at to meet her gaze.

Skylen: "What do you want me to say?! Thank you for leaving us for dead?! Well done for causing all this bantha shit you started?!"

Reikon: "I'm sorry! I didn't realise they were going to try and kill you!"

Skylen: "And had they done, once you had found out, what would have done? Hmm? Would you have mourned? Would you have even cared?!"

Skylen: "Of course I would have!..." She spat back, tears now filling her eyes, "...I love you for fuck sake!" Skylen breathed out a heavy sigh, slightly shaking his head,

Skylen: "Why'd you do it?"

Reikon: "Do what?" She asked glumly.

Skylen: "Why did you start hanging around with these people? They're evil at the best of times Reikon, and now you've riled them up. How long have you been doing this?" Reikon pulled her head away before she answered.

Reikon: "Started gathering followers about three months before we found out mother was ill." Skylen moved his position for the first time since he had entered the room and went to stand in front of her.

Skylen: "For fuck sake!... A little over three years?! So you started this war?! Caused the loss of countless lives of not only the Vanguard and your little insurrectionists, but innocent civilians too! You even had an attempt made on your sisters life! Why?! To what end?!"

Reikon: "Because it's needed!..." She spat back following his movement around in front of her "...don't you see? These people need the help of someone that cares! Axis Mundis doesn't care and it never will unless I do something about it! These people need change, they're ready to embrace it, eager for it! This has in itself proved how much things have changed, and how the 'mighty Vanguard' and it's ruler have not accepted it and are not prepared for change?!"... Skylen pondered on this thought... She was right, this is what many had been saying for decades including himself... in some ways, this was a lesson to be learnt from.

Skylen: "But where would it go from here? Sooner or later someone would catch you out, you should be glad it was me and Wrex, anyone else would lock you up instantly and take you straight to the queen, or worse..."

Reikon: "So what are you going to do then? huh? You say that like you have something else in mind for me?" Skylen remained silent, not knowing what to say to her next, Wrex was right, everything about this was wrong, but also yes, she was right about the situation and current problems but was this only way to get people's attention? Skylen buried his head in his hands tying to relieve the stress this was causing him, only to be reminded how injured his face actually was.

Skylen: "I don't know... I don't know what to do."

Reikon: "You still love me don't you?" she asked, eyes gleaming with hope, Skylen pulled his head out of his hands,

Skylen: "Of course I do."

Reikon: "Then release me and help me" she pleaded...

Skylen had never been so torn in his life... but he made his decision... he flicked his tail blades out, Reikon's look of hope quickly changed to fear and Skylen rounded back to her side.

Reikon: "Skylen, my love, please..." she looked away as he knelt down beside her and brought his tail towards her, tears now consuming her, she felt him tug at the make shift straps holding her, slide his tail between them her scaly skin and flicked the sharp end of his tail outward. Her eyes snapped open as she felt the restriction around her wings and torso release, relief started filling her as he shifted along doing the same to the rest of the straps and he stood after he did the last one. She untangled herself from the remains of the straps and stood up herself stretching as she went. She kissed Skylen on the lips,

Reikon: "Thank you my love..." then gave a quick embrace, "...now, let's get out of here..." She held her palm open and there was a burst of red and purple light which just as quickly faded, revealing the Shard floating above her hand. Skylen took her by surprise though with his speed, snatched the Shard from above her hand and held it furthest away from her "...Hey!... What are you doing?!" she demanded actually looking a bit angry.

Skylen: "You want to get out of here, I agree... But not to run away... you want me to help you then you need to help me, do as I say and hopefully all should be ok." Skylen stated, holding her back.

Reikon: " 'Hopefully'? You know I can use that without holding it right?!" She stated.

Skylen: "I know, but I'm relying on you to behave and do as I ask." he replied, relaxing his keep-away pose as she relaxed. Wrex came back in through the door, who had managed to clean some of his face up from dried blood.

Wrex: "Bit too much shouting to be doing any good... Skylen?! What are you doing?! YOU LET HER GO?!"

Skylen: "I did brother..." He replied calmly , "... I'm using the chance you gave me, to give Reikon a chance, to turn herself in and do the right thing, which I'm sure she's going to do... am I right?..." He asked, turning to and hinting at Reikon, her head dropped and she gave a reluctant nod, Skylen smiled. And Wrex relaxed his stance. Skylen turned back to Wrex. "...Brother, I advise you command the rest of the Strikes to fall back to Axis Mundis and that Fury will return direct to the Palace with Reikon."

Wrex: "Yeah, how are we getting home then? Bit of a distance to walk or fly."

Skylen held his hand out, revealing the Shard sat in it, closed his eyes for a few moments then held his opposite hand out to the opposite side of the room and a red and purple hole slowly appeared and grew in size to be slightly larger than a standard sized door way to a room... A 'Jump'. Wrex's jaw dropped,

Wrex: "You shouldn't know how to do that! or even be able to!"

Skylen: "Yeah well, spending a lot of time with a certain someone seems to have rubbed off on me and she showed me some of the basics... You going to send that message or not? Then we can take the shortcut." Skylen said, winking back.